Chapter 27
Luna
“So, you weren’t in your room when we got home last night,” Annika says from beside me on the bench.
I pretend to focus on the game. Zayden has just scored and they’re moving faster now, and more brutal.
“Zayden wasn’t at the hangout spot, either. I wonder why,” Sophie adds.
They both are watching me a little too closely.
I have no freaking idea what’s going on. I didn’t plan to go to the rink or for him to be there. I didn’t plan to wake up in his bed with his arms wrapped around me.
Damn it, baby, just stop fighting me for a sec. His voice replays in my head. I keep telling myself it was the migraine and I hallucinated the whole thing. But it sounded so real.
“Luna, are you even here with us?” Annika nudges me with her elbow.
I take a sip of my drink to buy me some time. Then the crowd is screaming, and when I look down at the ice, Jasper is on top of a guy, the captain of the other team. Ref’s whistles blare through the arena. Players from both teams are being pulled apart.
“Holy shit!” Annika grabs my arm.
“Oh my God, Jasper! Is he okay?” Sophie leans forward like she wants to go down there and check.
They pull Jasper away from the other guy—I think his name is Leon. But Zayden is grabbing him by the collar before Cameron pulls him away from him.
Zayden’s head turns toward me, and our eyes meet. He looks furious, and my breath catches in my throat for a second. The noises fade, and the only sound is the thud of my pulse in my ears.
Are you okay? I whisper in my chest, like he can hear me.
Jasper and Leon are being taken away to the penalty boxes. Leon is looking at me with that infuriating smirk, like he enjoyed every second of it.
Then Jasper and Cameron. They’re all looking at me now.
Shit!
“What the hell was that?” Sophie leans in.
“I don’t know,” I say as Zayden’s dad yells something at him.
“Were they fighting about you?” Sophie asks.
“I don’t—” I shake my head, but I can still feel Zayden’s eyes on me like the sun on a cloudless day. “They weren’t.”
My heart is beating faster, and I’m back there again. Listening to my mom and her boyfriend yelling and fighting because of me. Luna did this, and Luna did that. Because I existed.
I need air.
I stand quickly and squeeze through the row of students.
“Luna?” Sophie calls after me.
“I—just need to go.” I don’t wait for a response.
I mutter, “Excuse me,” and “Sorry,” as I continue making my way out of the arena. My head begins to throb again.
I make it to the far hallway near the vending machine where it’s mostly empty and quiet.
My back slides down the wall. I close my eyes for a second, bringing my knees to my chest.
“Hey, babe. You okay?” Sophie’s quiet voice reaches me.
“Yeah, just needed a minute.”
They walk toward the vending machine.
Annika hands me a bottle of water.
Sophie tosses a bag of plantain chips onto my lap. “For the queen of pretending she’s okay.”
“Thanks.” I smile at her.
She sits beside me and passes a bag of BBQ potato chips to Annika. Then she opens a bag of cheese crackers for herself. I don’t really want to eat, but it’s plantain chips, my favorite. I open the bag and pop one into my mouth.
They let me sit in the quiet until I can’t take it anymore.
“I hate him.”
“Zayden? You already established that.” Sophie turns to face me.
“You don’t get it. I hate him, hate him. I know he’s your cousin and all, but the guy is confusing. He told me to stay away from him, then he looked at me like he actually cares.” I play with one of my loose braids.
Sophie pats my back, grinning. “Oh, babe. You don’t hate him. You just hate that you like him. I get it. The guy is objectively hot.”
“Sophie! He’s your cousin.”
“That’s why he’s so hot. And it’s not my fault the Del Sol girls have a thing for men in my family.”
I gasp and bury my face in my hands. “Sophie!”
“It’s okay. He likes you, too. He just sucks at human emotion.” She grins wider.
I groan, dragging my hands down my face. “I hate that I can’t stop thinking about him, and how much space he takes up in my head.”
Sophie bumps her shoulder against mine. “Have you two…like hooked up?”
“No. We just…kissed,” I say a little too quickly.
Sophie shrugs. “Maybe you guys just need to have sex and get it out of your systems.”
“Sophie!” My eyes go wide, heat crawling up my neck.
Annika nearly chokes on her chips. “Subtle.”
“I’m just saying. The sexual tension between you two is unbearable.”
I press the water bottle to my forehead.
“Seriously, what are you so afraid of?” Sophie asks.
“I’ve never done that…before…with anyone.” I stare ahead.
Sophie’s expression softens. “Oh. I didn’t know.”
“It’s not like I wear a sign. I’m probably the only nineteen-year-old virgin on the planet,” I say quickly.
“I’ve just never felt…ready.” I never told them what it was like.
The yelling, the fists, the way I used to flinch when footsteps got too loud.
There was this one night. He didn’t touch me, my mom’s boyfriend, but I saw it in his eyes.
If my mom hadn’t walked in, something would’ve happened.
I knew it. I felt it in my skin for weeks.
Since then, I’ve never let anyone that close.
Sophie leans her head back against the wall. “That makes sense. Especially with everything you’ve been through.”
I nod, but my throat feels tight.
“There’s no rush, though. Whenever you’re ready,” Annika adds.
The truth is, Zayden Aldenhurst is not something I can just get out of my system. He’s injected in my bloodstream, and everything that I am. He’s stuck on me like a tattoo.
Sophie’s phone vibrates, and she pulls it out. “The game is over, and we won 5–3.”
Annika’s already texting. “Cameron says everyone’s heading to The Vault. Midnight party. Players get in first, but we’re on the list.”
I should say no. My head still hurts, and my feelings are a mess. I’m not ready to see him again.
Sophie turns to me. “Are you up for it? We don’t have to go. We can go back to the dorm, make tea, and watch Korean drama.”
That sounds amazing, and I almost say yes. But I don’t want to be the reason they miss the one thing everyone’s been talking about all week.
“No, let’s go.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I get to wear my little black dress.” And my favorite pair of stockings.
Her eyes light up as she pulls me to my feet. “Let’s go, ladies. We have two hours to get ready.”
“The code tonight is tigri blanca,” Annika says as we make it out of the exit.
By the time we get ready and make it to the Vault, I regret it the second I walk in. The music is too loud.
The guys are already waiting at our usual booth. They are all wearing their Valcérre jackets. Zayden’s jacket sleeves are rolled up to his elbows with his tattoo peeking out.
The second his eyes lock on mine, he gives me this look like he’s mad at me for coming. He looks away like I’m exhausting him.
“You ladies made it.” Cameron grins as we slide into the booth. “Celebratory shots.” He sets a small glass in front of each of us, and the liquid inside glows.
“What the hell is this?” I bring it to my nose.
“Valcérran Aurora shot.” Jasper smirks. “The glow’s from a special flower extract they infuse with it. It’s legal. Mostly.”
“To the first win of the season.” Cameron raises his drink up before throwing it back.
Zayden grunts when I bring mine to my lips, and when I look over at him, he gives me that look again. Like, What are you doing?
Technically, I shouldn’t be drinking; it usually makes my migraines worse, but I take the shot anyway. It burns down my throat and settles somewhere beneath my ribs.
We all set our empty glasses on the table.
“Okay, now that we’ve got drinks, someone wants to explain what the hell that fight was about?” Sophie asks the question we’ve all been thinking about.
Suddenly, the table is quiet. Even the music seems to fade away. Zayden shifts in his seat. Cameron scratches the back of his neck, and Jasper curses under his breath.
“Jasper!” Sophie leans closer. “What the fuck happened? You don’t just go around punching people unless they do something.”
Jasper looks at me before looking away. “He made a comment,” he mutters. “About Luna.”
I move uncomfortably in my seat.
“What kind of comment?” Sophie frowns.
Jasper looks at Zayden, who gives him a nod. He clears his throat before speaking. “He asked Zayden, ‘Is she as good in bed as she is on the ice?’ I’m sorry, Luna.”
Everything in me goes still, and I want to disappear. Zayden doesn’t look at me, but his hand curls into a fist on the table.
“I’m gonna grab another drink.” I slide out of the booth before they can say anything. The bar is open tonight, so I grab one of the bottles with the same drink Cameron gave us earlier and pour myself a shot. The heat spreads through my body, and if I stay still another second, I’m gonna explode.
So, I let the music pull me into the crowd, even if I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve never been to a party before, and I don’t dance unless it’s on the ice. But I’m not thinking right now.
I close my eyes and let the music guide me. My shoulders roll back, my braids swaying with every roll of my hip. I let the beat drown out everything—except for him.
His gaze burns into my skin from across the room. And that’s why, when some hockey guy with too much cologne steps behind me, I don’t stop him. He leans down and says something in my ear with a laugh, but I have no idea what he said.
Then the air around me changes, and suddenly Zayden is here.
He grabs the guy by the collar and shoves him like he weighs nothing. The guy mutters something under his breath, ready to throw a punch, but one look at Zayden and he’s backing off with his hands in the air, disappearing into the crowd.
Coward.
Then Zayden turns around to face me, and the look in his eyes pulls the air out of my lungs. Even in the low lighting, I can see it, the anger in his eyes, like he’s mad I let that guy touch me.
His eyes drag over me from head to toe, as if he wants to devour me right here in the middle of the crowd.
God, I want him to.
I swallow hard, heat building between my thighs.
My chest rises faster. I look away first, forcing my legs to move. I head toward the bar, needing another drink. I’m about to pour myself a shot when someone grabs the bottle from my hands.
I spin around, ready to tell whoever it is to fuck off, only to find Zayden staring at me.
Of course, it’s him.
“That’ll make your headaches worse.”
I scoff. “Why do you care?” I push past him and head upstairs.
I step out onto the balcony. The cold air bites into my skin, and I grab the railing, trying to breathe through the tightness in my chest.
And of course, he follows me.
“Seriously? Why are you following me?”
He takes another step closer, the heat of him brushing against my back despite the cold air. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” I lie.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he says, worry in his voice. “You should be in bed, resting.”
I spin to face him. “Stop pretending you care.”
“You think I don’t care?” he whispers. “You think I don’t fucking feel you every time you walk into a room?
” His voice drops, ragged. “You’re a fucking magnet, Luna.
I feel you before I see you—your scent, your energy.
I knew you were at the Shadow Rink last night, even though no one told me.
I feel it when you’re near, like gravity. Like a goddamn pull in my bones.”
“Why do you keep pushing me away, then?” I hate how my voice comes out—quiet, tired, like I’m already breaking.
His voice lowers, like he’s finally letting something slip. “I told myself staying away would protect you,” he says. “That you’d be better off if I kept my distance. But that didn’t last long, did it?” He huffs a breath that isn’t quite a laugh, more like disbelief. “Not even a week.”
We’re too close now. Close enough that I can see the glint of something raw in his eyes. Close enough for him to kiss me. Which is the last thing I should want, and the only thing I do.
“Then I saw his hands on you, and I fucking lost it.” His eyes drop briefly to my lips before finding mine. He’s looking at me like he’s trying to memorize every inch of my face in the moonlight.
“If you’re gonna kiss me again,” I murmur to break the tension, “kiss me somewhere that’ll make me forget how much I hate you.”
I expect him to walk away. But he studies me for a second before leaning even closer, so close that I can feel his breath on my face. “è questo che vuoi, Tempestina Mia (Is that what you want, my little storm)?”
“What?” I blink.
“Do you want me on my knees for you, Luna? Eating you out so good that you forget every damn reason why you think you hate me.”
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
The way he says it like a promise and a dare makes my thighs press together. My body turns into lava, even though it’s freezing out here. Is that what I want? I mean, no one has ever done that for me before.
Whatever was in that shot must have taken away all my resolve, because I hear myself say, “Yes.”
That’s all it takes for Zayden Aldenhurst to drop on his knees for me, right here on the cold balcony floor.